And the L-rd said to Moshe, “Go to the people, וקדשתם היום ומחר ̶̶ and prepare them today and tomorrow, וכבסו שמלותם ̶̶ and they shall wash their garments. And they shall be prepared for the third day the Lord will descend before the eyes of all the people upon Mount Sinai.” (שמות יט י)
It seems that G-d intended for a two-day preparation in preparation of the giving of the Torah that would take place on the third day. Yet when Moshe informs the nation, he instructs them that they should prepare themselves for three days with the Torah being given on the fourth day.
He [Moshe] said to the people, “Be ready for three days …” (שם שם טו)
This implies their receiving the Torah was on the fourth day from their preparation.
We are taught in the name of Rebbe Yosi that Moshe indeed deviated from the apparent directive of G-d and added a day of preparation. He figured this based on the hermeneutical principle of Hekesh which teaches that when two subjects are mentioned in a verse they are to be equated. Since G-d stated to prepare ‘today’ as ‘tomorrow’ it must be indicated that ‘today’s’ preparation is equal to tomorrow’s which will inevitably include a full night followed by the daytime consisting of a full day. This equality can only be fulfilled if ‘today’ refers not to the day they were instructed on, but to the next day, as it was already midday past the previous night prior to any directive to prepare.
The obvious question that is raised by all commentaries, is what was G-d thinking? Did He have a change of heart? Many point out that this was perhaps the first implementation of the Oral Law defining the Written Law perforce man’s intellect guided by the methods of interpretation gifted to man to utilize in understanding and determining the practical law.
But the question still begs why did G-d initially indicate only a two-day preparation?
There is a greater question at hand. Although the Oral Law in a sense supersedes the literal understanding of the Written Law, we still must maintain the פשוטו של מקרא, the simple reading of the text, that refers to G-d speaking of היום, ‘today’, which clearly alludes to the notion of today and not tomorrow.
Rav Yaakov Heilbrun הי"ד, a great Gaon who was a prized disciple of the Chasam Sofer, and served as the Rav of Ada, who was martyred during the Serbian revolutionary war in 1849, writes in his Megillas Sedarim the following fascinating idea.
This world is known as היום, ‘Today’, and the World to Come as ‘Tomorrow’, as the verse states היום לעשותם (דברים ז יא), This day to do ̶̶ ‘This World’, and the Talmud adds, למחר ̶̶ Tomorrow is to receive reward, in the World to Come.
At the giving of Torah, the nation was destined to return to the state of Adam before the sin. They would now live forever without fear of death.
Should they succeed, they would progress from their current state to a higher phase referred to as the ‘World to Come’.
This designation of preparing for two-days was G-d directing them to this masterplan of Today and Tomorrow.
Moshe feared that the people may succumb to sin once again, and with this implementation those who sinned would be doomed from attaining a heightened reality.
He therefore suggested, through the power of his mastery of the Oral Law, a new plan that would assure the nation in the face of failure would continue to exist.
There would need to be a three-part existence. We would face the reality of a finite physical world that we would seek to inspire by living a life of devotion in Torah, confronting challenges and overcoming them that will bring us upon our death to the second phase of an interim world of reward and punishment that would clarify our souls in bringing us to closeness to G-d. Eventually as each of us would achieve our souls Tikkun, in reaching a final stage of Revival of the Dead that will finally bring us to eternal elevated connection.
He thus petitioned for a יום השלישי, a Third Day, alluding to the verse in Hoshea which regards the Day of Revival of the Dead, “He will revive us from the two days, ביום השלישי ̶̶ on the third day He will set us up, and we will live before Him. (הושע ו ב)
The Arugas HaBosem quoting the Ohr Pnei Moshe interprets our verse in the context of the adage in Avos (2 13), שוב יום אחד לפני מיתתך ̶ Repent one day before your death, and since one may never know when that day is, one will be assured to repent each day.
This is the deeper meaning in the verse especially considering the above explanation.
Since we live in a world of mortality, וקדשתם היום ומחר ̶̶ prepare each day in the spirit of the reality of ‘today and tomorrow’, tomorrow may be your last day, so that you may וכבסו שמלותם ̶̶ and they shall wash their garments, presenting before G-d the good deeds we have accrued that are the garments of our soul.
Although G-d’s original plan never went into action, I believe there is an element of that idyllic world we can still reach for even whilst we still need the fear of death to keep us focused.
One of the support staff in the hospital I am presently in shared with me a remarkable revelation.
There is a young married man who comes from a family that has inherited an unusual gene that leaves them susceptible to many serious and varied diseases. A disproportionate number of his kin have already prematurely lost their lives over two generations.
He admitted he lived each day worrying when his turn will come to face this mortal enemy.
Recently lightning struck and he is now facing a serious life-threatening illness.
He shared with the individual I met that although he is aware of the consequences of his illness, he no longer lives with the fear of death but rather relishes the privilege and value of each day he is still alive and able to live inspired.
“If only”, he had said, “I had realized this before, I never would have wasted so many days in fear and worry and could have lived as inspired as I am now.”
Perhaps this is the ‘simple reading of the text’ G-d intended to leave as a message for us till eternity.
At the end of the day, each day is a gift and a morsel of eternity. We must never be encumbered by anxiety for it only withholds us from the numerous opportunities afforded us to cleave to Hashem at any given moment.
Cherish each day as they come for within those days, we bring ourselves closer to the Almighty and become worthy of being part of the marvelous days that await us in that future world!
באהבה,
צבי יהודה טייכמאן
P.S. Thank you to all of you who have expressed your wishes for my Refuah Sheleimah after my recent surgery. Bezras Hashem I hope to be discharged before Shabbos and return to my full duties very soon.
